Lake Marshetta
by DayTripper-OneWayTicket
Summary: After the Virginian Military Games Major Payne sends the boys of Madison Prep to a summer camp to brush up on their skills and to get them involved in a little healthy competition. Chaos, rivalries, pranks and distractions ensue with the arrival of Kempsey Academy, an all female squad.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapt. 1 -  
**

The three-hour bus ride to Lake Marshetta was finally over. Groans of relief sounded, even from the driver, when the glistening water of the lake came into view and the tyres screeched to an ear-wrenching halt.

Alex Stone was asleep, with his right cheek pressed up against the glass. Deak stood up and, realising Alex was still asleep, wacked him over the back of the head.

Alex's hand immediately went to his head as he was startled awake, "what the hell, man?" he grunted, wiping the sleep from his eyes when he saw the picturesque image of the lake outside. "Finally," he groaned again as he pulled himself up and out into the aisle.

Alex followed Deak out of the bus to see that there must have been over one hundred teenagers running around, all from different schools. Instead of wearing the usual camouflage green the students wore different colours to show which school they were representing. The boys of Madison Preparatory School wore navy blue pants and a white t-shirt with a navy coloured M on the chest.

"I wonder where all these squads are from." Deak said as they walked over to side of the bus to grab their bags.

Alex just shrugged as he bent down to snatch his yellow and green duffle, before the smaller cadets got in his way.

"Does anyone need to go to the bathroom?" Miss Walburn yelled, causing a couple of teenagers from another school to chuckle. The cadets from Madison groaned and mumbled 'no' before taking their own luggage.

After having a final word with the bus driver, Major Payne stepped off of the bus appearing to be both tired and moody from the long trip.

He didn't utter a word as he stood and waited for the cadets to grab their own luggage. When he saw that everyone was ready he nodded to the bus driver, still seated at the wheel, who then drove off towards the exit of the campsite.

"All right, maggots!" Payne called to the group. The cadets walked slowly towards him before stopping to hear what he had to say.

"You should have all been given maps of Lake Marshetta," Payne said.

Alex grabbed his map, which he had folded and scrunched in his back pocket, and looked at it. The map was simply drawn and colour coded. The buildings on the map were shown in the form of coloured rectangles and had numbers on each to indicate what dorm they were.

"The rectangles that are red are the cabins y'all be staying in." Payne explained.

The cadets all looked back down at their own crinkled maps and saw that they were going to be occupying cabins twelve to fourteen.

"It's four or five to a dorm. Select your dorm and unpack your shit – " Miss Walburn cleared her throat, "Uh - I mean your stuff." Payne corrected himself.

"Before you all go," Miss Walburn spoke, "there is going to be a meeting with all the other schools. It'll be in the main hall at twelve, so don't be late."

Alex and Deak simultaneously rolled their eyes and turned around to make their way to a cabin when a small black coach with heavily tinted windows drove up the campsite entrance.

Ignoring it at first, Alex continued to walk towards the buildings when he noticed that Deak had stopped.

"Whoa, shit." Deak gasped causing Alex to stop.

"What?" Alex asked as he turned his head towards the black coach, his jaw immediately dropping as a young woman, who looked to be about Alex's age, stepped off the bus. More girls around the same age, some younger, followed her soon after. They were each wearing matching black cap sleeve t-shirts with a white K on the chest and red gym shorts or pants.

Alex dragged his eyes away from the girls to look around at the camp and realised that he and Deak weren't the only ones to notice. Students from other schools kept turning their heads as they paced towards the cabins, one cadet bumping into a tree as he did so.

"Looks like camp just got a little better." Deak said, a smirk appearing on his lips.

A smile also crept onto Alex's lips when his gaze went straight back to the first girl, who was leaning against the side of the bus with her arms crossed. She had long chestnut brown hair and her skin was fair; her eyes were hidden behind a pair of black Ray-Ban Wayfarers. She was shorter than most of the other girls but she had long, toned legs.

"Ahem," the boys jumped, as Major Payne seemed to appear out of nowhere, an unimpressed expression remaining clear on his face.

The boys didn't say anything and tried to look innocent as they turned back around and made their way to their cabin.

"Oh crap." Payne grunted, scrunching his nose at the girls.

* * *

Kempsey Academy squad leader Angie Moretti stood against the coach as she, and the rest of the girls, waited for Major Harrison to finish speaking with the driver so they could grab their belongings.

After almost five minutes the only male within the group finally stepped off the coach and opened the side compartment that contained all their bags.

Angie quickly grabbed her royal blue duffle and lingered while her friend Ruby went to grab hers. While waiting she took in the beautiful view, her eyes landing on the large lake starting near the entrance, tall trees lined along the entire lake. The clear blue sky seemed to compliment the lake even more. Angie couldn't help but fantasise about just lying lazily by it for the entire eight weeks of camp but knew that wouldn't happen.

"Don't you look excited?" Ruby remarked sarcastically as she made her way over to Angie and noticed the nonchalant look on her face. As they began to walk a yawn crept out of Angie's mouth.

"I'm just tired." Angie stated, rubbing her eye underneath her sunglasses. "It's beautiful here though."

"It is, isn't it?" Ruby said. The dark olive skinned girl kept hers eyes on the sparkling water of the lake.

As they pulled out their folded up maps Angie and Ruby started to make their way to choose a cabin when Harrison started to speak.

"Before you all get settled," he started, "remember that all the schools will be meeting in the main hall at twelve. Don't be late." He raised his voice on that last part. With that Angie and Ruby spun on their heels and went to find a place to stay.

As they made their way through the crowd to find cabin sixteen Angie noticed the looks she and Ruby were getting from the other schools. Heads turned and sly grins appeared every time they walked past the male cadets. Angie furrowed her eyebrows as she realised something.

"Rubes," She drawled as two male cadets greeted the girls with a flirty "hello" as they walked past.

"Yeah?" Ruby looked at Angie.

"Do you notice anything?" Angie continued to speak slowly as a wolf whistle sounded from behind her causing her to turn for a quick glance.

"Like what?" Ruby peeked in every direction that Angie had turned her head to try and see what she was looking at.

"Like the fact that we seem to be the only girls here." Angie stopped walking and looked around her to gain a better look at the campsite.

Ruby halted a few steps in front of Angie as those words sunk in. "What?" She exclaimed. "No." She scoffed as she backtracked to stand next to Angie.

"Look around." Angie waved her hands around before taking off her sunglasses and placing them on top of her head.

"There has to be other girls here." Ruby stated. "We- we just haven't seen all the schools yet. We'll see them all at the meeting."

"I- I guess." A hint of uncertainty appeared in Angie's voice before she began hiking up towards the buildings again.

When they finally found their cabin Ruby immediately ran towards the bed near the window at the far end of the room and threw her bag on top. Angie laughed as she walked towards the bed next to Ruby's. The four beds were simple white mattresses and white pillows covered with green sheets.

As Angie started to fill the trunk at the foot of her chosen bed the door opened and in stepped Elizabeth, a tanned girl with shoulder length blonde hair who was about two years younger than Angie and Ruby, and Samantha, a girl with curly auburn coloured hair who was the same age as Elizabeth.

"Hey," Samantha greeted the two other occupants in the room as she made her way to the bed next to Angie's.

"Hi Sam," Angie briefly turned from her trunk.

Elizabeth made her way to the bed nearest to the door and threw her bag on top before walking towards the window near Ruby's bed.

"Are we the only girls here?" Samantha questioned as the girls each started to pack their trunks. She looked to the squad leader for answers, thinking she would know. "It looked like…"

"I honestly don't know." Angie shrugged without looking up from her trunk.

"Why would Harrison send us to an all boys camp?" Ruby asked as she folded her shirts on her bed.

"Would they allow that?" Elizabeth chimed in.

* * *

It was five minutes to twelve and the boys of Madison Preparatory School were making their way towards the main hall for the camp meeting.

"When do we get to eat?" Asked Heathcote, rubbing his round belly as they made ambled over to the large hall. "I'm starving."

"Me too actually." Said Deak, for once on the same page as his fellow cadet.

Alex just shook his head as he glanced at the other squads.

"Out of the way assholes." An eerily familiar voice grunted behind them. Alex's eyes widened when he realised whom that voice belonged to and turned to see that he was correct.

"You've gotta be kidding." Deak mumbled when he saw the boy striding towards them.

"Dotson?" Alex groaned as his former squad mate, along with other cadets from Wellington Academy pushed their way through the crowd to get to the hall first.

"How did you jackasses afford to come here?" Dotson smirked.

"We don't need this place to whoop your asses anyway." Said Deak.

"Just stay outta my way." Dotson threatened before rushing towards the entrance of the hall.

"Don't worry." Alex said. "I plan to stay as far away from you as possible."

The Wellington Academy cadets sat at the back of the hall on the right side of the aisle.

Alex and Deak made their way to the back left, with the rest of the boys following. Just as they sat down the brunette girl from before walked into the hall, followed by what was presumed to be the rest of her squad.

Every head in the hall was turned to look at them as they sat down on the right hand side of the hall. Alex briefly looked towards Dotson and saw that he seemed to be eyeing the same girl.

* * *

The girls of Kempsey Academy felt all eyes on them as they settled down near the back of the spacious hall.

As the hall began to fill, Angie's neck quickly became sore as she checked out each school to see if there were any girls. Not a single one. The only other females she saw were presumed to be working for the schools they were with, either as nurses or councillors.

Angie and Ruby simultaneously slid lower into their chairs, growing self conscious under the staring of the other squads.

"I think it's safe to presume we are the only girls." Angie whispered as a man walked up to the podium.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – **

Major Harrison entered the hall just as the balding man at the podium started to speak. About ten other people sat on either side of the stage behind him.

'Someone has some explaining to do.' Angie thought as she leered over at Harrison before looking back towards the front of the hall.

"Welcome gentlemen." The man at the podium cleared his throat as he looked towards the Kempsey Academy cadets. "And ladies."

Angie's eyes narrowed as she noticed an apprehensive tone in his voice.

"Welcome to Lake Marshetta. Glad to see everyone made it safely. I am Colonel Davis." He introduced himself, and then waved his hand over to his right side. "Over to my right are the camp's drill instructors Sergeants Thomas, Sanders and Wright and Corporal Miles."

Davis then turned towards the left. "To my left are medical assistants Sharon Perez and Brenda Wilson, camp councillor Nancy Leon, our laundry assistants Pearl Reynolds and Ava West and finally this year's camp leader Connor James." He finished, pointing to the tall boy seated at the end of the stage. Angie couldn't help but notice his tanned, toned arms, accentuated by a black t-shirt. He had short sandy blonde hair and slight stubble on his chin and along his jaw line.

"Before you all go to lunch, after this meeting, in the cafeteria just next to this building, you will each receive your schedules." Davis continued. "You will have weekends free to do whatever you want within the camp grounds. During the last week of camp there will be what we call the Iron Man challenge."

"Each squad will compete in a series of challenges, with the winning squad receiving a trophy and a cash prize for their school."

Angie's ears pricked up at the mention of a cash prize and out of the corner of her eye she could see Ruby sit straight up.

"Also, the captain of the winning squad will be asked to return to Lake Marshetta next year as camp leader."

As Davis began to go over the camp rules and guidelines Angie began to fall into a daze and lose concentration. She looked around the hall to see framed photographs of former attendees of the camp, some photos that had to be from decades ago. Not a single one had a female in the picture.

She started to pay attention to Davis again when it seemed like he was closing the meeting.

"Finally, I would like to introduce each school. Please raise your hands when I call out your school." Davis looked down at his notes on the podium. "First we have Harrington Academy," the boys at the front right side of the hall, dressed in maroon t-shirts and grey pants, raised their hands in perfect unison, "Novo Preparatory School," the squad seated in front of Kempsey Academy, dressed in orange t-shirts and black pants, raised their hands, "Madison Preparatory School," the boys at the back left rows raised their hands. They were dressed in white shirts and navy blue pants.

Angie noted the two older boys kept twitching their heads to face her squad.

"Earl Hatton Military Academy," Davis continued, a squad seated in front of Madison Preparatory, decked out in grey shirts and grey pants, raised their hands, "Wellington Academy," Angie turned her head to see the all-blue squad behind her raise their hands, one of the boys turned to Angie and gave her a not so subtle wink. Angie pursed her lips into a non-genuine smile before turning back around. A disgusted look appeared on her face the moment she looked away.

"And lastly," Davis cleared his throat, "the first all female squad to attend Lake Marshetta, Kempsey Academy." All together every head in the hall turned, some smirking and nodding like a group of bobblehead dolls, as the girls lifted their arms slowly and quickly pulled them down again. Angie had a feeling they didn't need to raise their hands to let people know which school they were.

"I trust that you'll all be professional," Davis spoke slowly, "and that there won't be any _funny business_." He said causing mischievous chuckles to sound throughout the hall.

'Funny business?' Angie had a hunch that she knew what he meant. She could tell he didn't want to go into detail about what he meant. Angie noticed Ruby had slid back down her chair.

* * *

After the meeting finished everyone grabbed their schedules and started to make their way straight towards the cafeteria.

"You guys go ahead," Angie said as she folded her schedule without reading it, "I wanna speak to Harrison." The rest of the squad headed for the next building when Angie spotted the Major.

"Major Harrison," She spotted him just standing casually just outside the hall.

"What's wrong Cadet Moretti?" Harrison immediately recognised the questioning expression on Angie's face.

"You knew that this was a boy's camp, didn't you?" Her expression went from questioning to suspicious as she folded her arms.

"Of course I knew." Angie opened her mouth to speak when Harrison continued. "You think that I would place you in a camp that I knew nothing about?"

"But… why-"

"For four years…" Harrison rubbed his eyes as he spoke, "Kempsey Academy hasn't ranked past third place at the All Female Virginia Military Games."

"Third place isn't so bad. It's better than last place." Angie's voice started to get higher.

"There are only five other squads that you compete against."

"Right." Angie let out a big huff and looked down at the ground.

"Think about this…" Harrison spoke slowly as Angie looked back up at him. "You're going to be practicing with and competing against some of the best _male_ squads in the state. If you guys can beat them, imagine how well you'd do at the games."

"It's a good idea and all in theory. But what makes you think that us competing against boys is going to improve anything?"

"I think it's a great idea, Major Harrison, sir." Angie couldn't hold in a grunt when her heard least favourite squad mate, Nicole Faye, who decided to stick her nose into the conversation.

"I knew you would Cadet Faye." Angie rolled her eyes as Major Harrison's voice rose in praise of Nicole.

"If I were squad leader I would probably have thought of this myself." Said the tall blonde, holding her hands behind her back as she spoke.

'Here we go again.' Angie bit her tongue as she looked back at the ground, trying her hardest not to say what she thought. Since Angie was chosen as squad leader over a year ago Nicole has been doing everything she can think of to take the position from her.

"Of course," Nicole continued, "if I were squad leader we wouldn't have to resort to something like this to get to first place."

"Right." Angie laughed. "But you would sleep with one of the judges to get us to first place." Angie blurted out.

"Excuse me?" Nicole held her hand to her chest. Angie smirked when it seemed Nicole was at a loss for words.

"Cadet Moretti!" Harrison growled. "Faye you may go to lunch."

When Nicole moved out of earshot, Harrison looked back at Angie and started to speak again.

"I'm with Cadet Faye on this one." Angie furrowed her eyebrows. "The squad needs changes to be made."

"I realise that, but…" Angie interrupted before Harrison cut in.

"If the squad loses the games this year I might have Faye replace you as squad leader."

"What?" Angie gasped. "Major, a dog can do a better job as leader than Nicole would ever be able to."

"I stand by what I said. I put a lot of time and effort to get you guys allowed into this place. If this doesn't work, I don't know what will." Harrison held his hand up to stop Angie from speaking. "Go to lunch."

Angie turned around to make her way towards the cafeteria when Harrison spoke once more.

"Oh and Moretti…" He drawled. "I hope you listened to the Colonel. No funny business."

Angie chuckled. "Whatever do you mean Major?" She questioned innocently.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know."

'What's that supposed to mean?' Angie wondered as her eyes narrowed.

"I'm not gonna be running around looking after a bunch of hormonal teenagers. Being from an all-girls school is not an excuse."

"You kinda are already, sir." Angie spoke slowly. "We are a bunch of hormonal…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the unamused look on the Major's face.

"No, you're right." Angie nodded quickly to get on the Major's good side; she knew she was on thin ice. "No funny business."

"Good." Harrison gave an approving look.

"You mean like sex right?" Angie quipped and, before she could see the expression on Harrison's face, almost sprinted towards the lunch hall.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – **

A loud rumble sounded from Angie's stomach as she walked into the cafeteria. The aroma from the food swept straight to her nostrils as she walked between the long, crowded tables.

Becoming increasingly annoyed at the looks the boys were giving her as she walked past, Angie rolled her eyes as she stretched her neck and looked around the hall to find the girls.

She found them seated at the corner of the hall. They had their schedules open and were chatting amongst themselves.

"Any early starts?" Angie questioned straightaway as she sat between Ruby and Peyton, the youngest cadet of the group.

"Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are six am starts." Ruby answered, causing Angie to cringe. "Tuesdays and Thursdays are seven am starts."

"I will never get used to early morning starts." Angie said.

"We've got obstacle training at one." Ruby carried on.

"Great. Right after we eat too." Angie said cynically as she sat back up and walked towards the front of the hall to grab some food.

She didn't know where to start as she looked at banquet before her. She grabbed a large plate and grabbed whatever looked appetising, which seemed to be everything.

"Someone's hungry." A husky voice laughed from behind Angie, who turned around to see the camp leader Connor James walk up next to her.

A puff of air intended to be a laugh came out of Angie's mouth, she then cleared her throat before speaking. "I'm starving." She said as she grabbed a roasted chicken thigh.

Connor chuckled again before putting his hand out. "Connor James. Camp leader." He introduced himself.

"Angie Moretti. Squad leader." She shook his hand as she replied.

"Pretty name." He complimented.

"Thanks."

"Italian?" He asked.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"I don't know. Basic instinct I guess." Connor shrugged. "I also guessed you were the squad leader. You look like a leader."

Angie found it impossible not to smile at that comment. Especially given the conversation she just had with Major Harrison.

"What school are you from?" Angie wondered.

"I just graduated from Earl Hatton." Conner lowered his voice. "Listen, if you need any help or need someone to talk to, I'm your guy. Don't hesitate to come talk to me if your having any trouble."

"Uh, thanks." Angie replied. "But I should be fine."

"Nicole Faye." The annoying blonde came out of nowhere yet again, practically pushing Angie out of the way to shake Connor's hand. Angie scowled at Nicole when she almost dropped her food. "The soon to be squad leader."

"Hi," Connor shook her hand. "Connor James."

Angie scoffed and rolled her eyes before grabbing more food and strolling back to her table.

"What was that?" Asked Shannon, the raven haired sixteen year old, who was seated across from Angie.

"I know." Angie's voice became high pitched. "That bitch."

Ruby giggled. "We're not talking about Nicole." She said as Angie stuffed her mouth with fried rice.

"Were you flirting with the camp leader?" Peyton interrogated.

Angie furrowed her eyebrows. "Aren't you like twelve?" She asked back, pointing her plastic fork at Peyton. "You don't know what flirting is." She said through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"Come on, Ange, we all saw you!" Samantha piped in.

"What is this? An interrogation?" Angie raised her eyebrows and laughed dryly at everyone at the table. "No I wasn't flirting. I was talking and laughing with someone who happened to be a boy. If Connor were a girl would you say I was flirting?"

Everyone at the table remained silent and seemed to be thinking about that question.

"Besides, he came up to me." Angie said in denial.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, Ange." Ruby spoke again. "You heard what Davis said about any _funny business_." She air quoted at those last two words.

"Ugh, if I hear those words one more time…" Angie finished off her chicken before wiping her face and hands. Upon seeing the girl's bathroom, she got up and made her way there to wash her hands. "Wasn't. Flirting." She had the final word before leaving the table.

As Angie was walking back to her table a boy dropped a fork in front of her. Instinctively she picked it up and gave it back only to realise it belonged to the boy from Wellington Academy who winked at her during the meeting.

"Thank you," A nails on a chalkboard voice came out of his mouth as he took back his fork, cocking his eyebrows up as he did.

"Right." Angie barely whispered before moving forward to leave.

"Anthony Dotson." He held out his hand. "Most people just call me Dotson. But you can call me anything you want." He winked again.

Angie cleared her throat and cringed as she briefly shook his hand. "Can I call you creepy?"

The table behind Angie snorted with laughter. She turned around to see the boys of Madison Preparatory School trying to hold back their laughter.

"Playing hard to get?" Dotson replied. "I kinda like that."

'Is this guy for real?' Angie thought, taking a step back and folding her arms.

"Just leave the girl alone Dotson." Said a deep voice coming from the Madison Prep table.

Angie turned to meet a pair of light steely blue eyes. A fair skinned boy with short, dark brown hair walked up beside her. Angie also recognised him from the meeting as one of the boys that kept peeking at her squad.

"She's not interested." He said.

"Get real Stone." Dotson laughed looking back and forth. "She's interested."

Angie's eyes turned into slits as a dry smile crept onto her face. "I am, am I? I haven't realised yet."

He turned to sit back down before taking a step back towards Angie who moved back another step. "This isn't over." A flirtatious tone snuck into his creepy voice.

"Okay." Angie nodded and looked away as he went to sit back down.

She turned to the boy next to her and grinned sincerely. "Thanks, I guess."

He let out a short laugh. "No problem. I'm Alex." He held out his hand.

"Angie." She smiled again as she gave his hand a firm squeeze.

"Nice to meet you." A large smile appeared. "Although, it didn't really look like you needed my help, to be honest. I just thought I'd help you out of your misery."

Angie gave a long chuckle. "Right. Well, thanks anyway." Her smile faded when she looked over to her table to see the girls were all looking at her. When they realised she saw them they all turned back to their plates or schedules. She rolled her eyes before turning back to Alex with a smile.

"Be seeing you around." She said looking him up and down before walking towards Kempsey Academy's table.

"Hopefully." Alex said before going back to his table.

"Would you consider that flirting?" Ruby asked as Angie sat down. She quickly looked back at her schedule before Angie could say anything.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – **

It was one in the afternoon and the sky was cloudless with the sun shining brightly over the entire field. Angie could feel her fair skin cooking the moment she walked outside.

Using the black hair tie around her wrist she tied her thick hair into a high ponytail to get it off her neck, leaving just her full fringe to lie skimming her eyebrows and bits of untamed hair above her ears that wouldn't stay in place.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Elizabeth said unenthusiastically as a group of boys started to join them.

"Oh no," Angie groaned the moment she realised who they were. The cadets of Wellington Academy stood besides the group of girls, sneering from ear to ear with their arms crossed as they kept their faces towards the field.

"Hello again." Angie didn't need to look to see that Dotson had spoken.

"That's gotta be the most annoying voice on the planet." Angie murmured to Elizabeth.

"Hello." Greeted Nicole cheerily towards the boys.

Angie furrowed her brows and chuckled. "I stand corrected." She whispered to Elizabeth while looking at Nicole.

Elizabeth had to turn her laughter into a cough as the man introduced to them as Sergeant Sanders walked towards the group.

"Quiet." Sanders ordered. The voices became quieter until there was complete silence.

"All right, gentlemen…" He paused and looked towards the girls, "_and ladies_," the girls simultaneously shook their heads, "seeing as it's you're your first day of camp, today is just a practice of the obstacle course. But that does not mean I will go easy on you."

"Fun, fun, fun." Elizabeth chanted as Angie let out a big huff.

* * *

"I'm telling you man," Alex tried to speak over the gunshots, "did you see the look she gave me?"

"You mean a smile?" Deak snickered as he reloaded his gun and took aim at the target in front of him. "She was just being nice."

Ignoring what he heard Alex took a shot at the cardboard man and hit the man's stomach.

"I caught her friend looking at me though." Deak tried to boast.

"Hey dummy!" They heard Major Payne shout at the other end of the shooting line. He marched to a nervous cadet Wuliger. "What's wrong with you? Change of environment ruin your aim?"

Alex rolled his eyes and turned back to the target for more practice, hitting about seven inches away from the bullseye.

"Payne's gonna kill us if it means winning that Iron Man challenge." Deak changed the subject.

"How hard can it be?" Alex wondered. "Besides, I thought we were here to get some practice. Not to win some stupid competition."

"C'mon man. You know what Payne's like." Deak said. "Any mention of a challenge or trophy and he's interested. I wouldn't mind winning just for the cash prize though."

"While you boys are busy swapping recipes," Sergeant Wright interjected, "those Novo boys have already shot dozens of men right in the heart." He said, a Texan accent laced in his voice.

The boys both did a once over at their competition to find that Wright wasn't exaggerating. In almost perfect synchronization each Novo Preparatory cadet hit the target right in the middle.

"Payne's gonna kill us." Alex repeated what Deak had said before they turned back to their targets.

* * *

"Let's go! Let's go! Move it!" Sanders yelled as Angie pulled herself up the large rope wall. "Faster!"

'So much for just a practice.' Angie thought as she climbed over the wall and made her way to the step tyres.

The Kempsey girls were doing relatively well, but it seemed the Wellington boys were a lot further ahead.

"Let's go beautiful." One of the male cadets yelled over a chorus of deep chuckles.

Angie finished the tyres and sprinted towards the net climb, Samantha followed close behind her and jumped to the left of Angie on the climb.

"Harrison's… gonna… bury us." Samantha said between steps as they pulled themselves.

"I don't… even… wanna think about it." Angie huffed as she heaved herself over the wall and jumped down, almost losing her footing as she did. 'Shouldn't've done that.' Angie thought as a slight pain shot up her leg.

Ruby was the first one to finish out of the girls. She stood far away from the Wellington cadets as she waited. "Come on girls!" She yelled.

"Quicker, you maggots!" Sanders ordered as they made their way to the final obstacle, the low crawl under barbed wire.

"Here we go." Angie grunted as she lowered to her hands and knees. This was her least favourite part. Something always went wrong.

Dragging herself along the rough, dry ground Angie thought she may actually make it, but about two inches near the end she felt something pull her hair.

Angie stopped for a moment and then moved again, feeling another tug on her hair. She looked up at the barbed wire above her to see that her hair had gotten caught. "Damn it." She huffed as she tried to weave her hair free, to no avail.

After yanking her hair free she finally made it to the end of the obstacle course. Samantha followed soon after. Thirteen-year-old Paige Smith was the last one to finish the course.

"Good job, Paige." Angie tried to reassure Paige, who seemed to be ashamed as she walked towards the group.

Everyone grew silent as Sanders started to make his way slowly towards the girls, holding his hands behind his back as he did. Angie's heart jumped to her throat when he stopped in front of her.

"Cadet Moretti, is it?" Sanders.

"S-sir, yes, sir!" Angie stammered.

"Why aren't you wearing a hat?"

Angie's eyes were drawn to the ground. "Uh, hats don't stay on my head, sir." She said to a few chuckles from both the male and female cadets. She glanced over at Major Harrison who shook his head, seemingly embarrassed about his squad's leader.

"What?" Sanders narrowed his eyes.

"Uh, I forgot… sir."

"Well, don't forget." Sanders snapped. "Next time, you either wear a hat or you hair gets shaved off."

Angie's eyes widened and she stepped back at that last part. "What?" She gasped.

"Sir, she can borrow my hat for now, sir." The familiar voice of Dotson yelled across the field.

"What?" Angie gasped again. "No. I will just tie my hair into a bun." Sanders shook his head. "Or pin it all up." Sanders shook his head again.

"Cadet?" Sanders paused and looked at Dotson.

"Cadet Dotson, sir." Dotson smiled maliciously. "I don't have a lot of hair, so I don't need the hat as much as she would, sir."

"Fine." Sanders turned his attention back to Angie. "For now you will use Cadet Dotson's hat until your memory improves."

Angie rolled her eyes as Dotson came over towards her. "Here you go." Dotson grinned.

'Nails on a chalkboard.' Angie thought of his voice as she took his hat, immediately cringing when she felt the sweat that had soaked into it from Dotson's hair.

"You can keep it if you like." Said Dotson cocking his eyebrows up and down before walking back to where he first stood.

Angie's eyes contracted as the hat remained in her hand. She refused to put that thing on her head until she had to.

"Again!" Sanders blew his whistle and all the cadets rushed to restart the obstacle course. Angie winced while she ran to the first obstacle as she shakily placed the sweat soaked hat onto her head.


End file.
